Update: Tuesday morning, April 2, 2024, Fairfield ISD posted on social media that they have decided to CLOSE on Monday, April 8th for the Eclipse. “We will be sending solar glasses home with all of the students so they can safely view the event from home,” they said. “There are just too many variable out of our control surrounding this event and the safety of our staff and students remains our top priority.”
As parents of school-aged kids know, most Freestone County schools, apart from Fairfield ISD, will be out for the day to observe the Eclipse with family, friends, and the community.
Many FISD parents have expressed their concerns about their students being required to attend school that day, some choosing to have their children remain home regardless.
FISD Superintendent, Joe Craig, responded to these concerns in his weekly newsletter, stating:
For Fairfield, the partial phase will begin at 12:22 p.m. and last until around 3:00 p.m. with the Total Eclipse phase beginning at 1:40:51 p.m. and will last 2 minutes and 21 seconds.
As educators, we want to use this special event as an educational opportunity to make sure our students experience it safely. We have acquired special glasses for all our students and staff members. We plan to have students view the event at their campus (we had originally planned to bus our Intermediate students to the fairgrounds to participate at the Fairfield Chamber event but have now decided to keep the students on their campus.)
We are aware that many districts surrounding us are out that day. From speaking with their Superintendents, some had already planned to have a staff day going back to last year when they adopted their calendars before they even realized the eclipse would be on that day, while others have made the decision to close because of the eclipse. We are also aware of the communication from the emergency management personnel from our county related to the event and the number of expected visitors in the county and how it could impact our roads.
The biggest unknown factor right now is what the weather will be like on that day. For all the well-made plans for communities all along the totality path, if we have heavily cloudy skies that day or rain, the number of people who turn out for the eclipse will be impacted. Our plan is to continue to monitor the weather and make a final decision either Wednesday or Thursday of the prior week. I can assure you the safety of our students and staff members is our priority.
